Joe
The History of Time and the Genesis of You offers a fresh look at the Genesis creation story. While dabbling in and respecting science, it is really about inviting the reader into a personal creation experience.
Science and Genesis
When it comes to science, Peter who initially went to school for geology, is not interested in trying to condense all of creation into four twenty-four hour days or identifying each of the days of creation with a period of time that matches up with the geological record.
Rather, his references to science dabble more in the realm of relativity and and quantum physics. In other words, rather than treating Genesis like a science book, he treats Genesis as something that happens within the frame of science. Of course, he also treats science as something that nestles in within the frame of the divine.
At a scientific level, The History of Time and the Genesis of You, frames Genesis 1 as a summary of all time. We are still somewhere in the midst of the sixth and seventh day. Given that time is relative based on the perspective of the observer, perhaps you are in one and I am in the other.
A Personal Creation Experience
So what about the “Genesis of You” part of This History of Time and the Genesis of You? If Genesis covers all of time then your life is part of Genesis. Just as God brings order to all things, God brings order to you. At this level, the book offers a different twist of the cosmic mythology approach found in The Lost World of Genesis One.
By taking this approach, Genesis becomes a truly pastoral text. It is not something in the past that happened nor is it a proving ground for the validity of the Bible. Rather, Genesis is a present reality taking place in your life. Like a creation that once sat formless in the void, you too are being formed by love until you are not just good, but very good.
A Disclaimer
Peter Hiett is lead pastor of The Sanctuary in Denver, CO, where I attend. He is, hands down, the best week-in-week-out preacher I know. Because he narrates the book on Audible, listening to it was like listening to a ten-week sermon series.